Richards Bay

The reduction in exports is not due to operational issues at the terminal but reflects weaker global demand, CEO Alan Waller says.

Three-million fewer tonnes of coal were exported from the Richard’s
Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in 2018 as global demand for South African
product weakened in response to high prices.

In a briefing on the annual performance for 2018 on Thursday, RBCT
reported coal exports of 73.47-million tonnes for 2018 —4% less than the
76.47-million tonnes exported in 2017 and falling short of a
previously-stated target of 77-million tonnes. On average the terminal
received 26 trains a day in 2018 compared with 27 a day in 2017.

The reduction in exports is not because of any operational issues at
the terminal but, rather, is a reflection of weaker global demand, said
CEO Alan Waller. “Whatever has been railed has been shipped. [The reason
for lower exports] is global demand; it’s market dynamics,” he said.

Xavier Prévost, senior coal analyst at XMP Consulting, said the
weaker demand was because South African coal index prices had been
marginally higher than those of other coal producing countries such as
Colombia and Australia in 2018.

The Richard’s Bay terminal, which is owned by 14 major coal-mining
companies, is one of the largest such facilities in the world and has an
export capacity of 91-million tonnes. Coal exports are a significant
foreign-currency earner for SA.

Nearly 82% of the coal leaving RBCT was delivered to Asia in 2018,
with India being the largest market. Africa received 8% of the export
coal and Europe procured 10.1%.

While the global demand is out of its control, RCBT has been hard at work to increase efficiencies. In December, the terminal achieved an export record of 8.12-million tonnes, in spite of a derailment of 51 wagons on the Transnet coal line on December 21…Read More